Oh! oh! the delight of beholding delight! The thing that should be if the world went right -- Scope for all fitness and merriest might. And oh, the dolour of looking on pain, Poor heart that exhausts its life in vain, Brave powers all bent that your rules restrain If the world went right t'were a world of bliss: If everyone dealt with the task that's his, No wholesomer, sunnier world than this. Let your bird out of his cage, nor fear; And if he's a bullfinch, as mine is here, You'll laugh at his comic, diminutive cheer: Aye! and what's more, if his food be there, He'll go back to prison without your care -- If you're fair to him then to you he's fair. Not that he means it -- it's natural, quite; All the live things are so sure to go right If you trust them enough, and enjoy their delight. Freedom! You'll see what a man can be When his fellows are happy, as happy as he, When the whole wide world is at work and free! When the follies are laid which have led to the strife And the envy with which the sad earth is rife Shall yield to the Natural Order of Life! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BOROUGH: LETTER 22. POOR OF THE BOROUGH. PETER GRIMES by GEORGE CRABBE TERNISSA, FR HELLENICS by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR NATURAL HISTORY by MOTHER GOOSE THE COWBOY'S DANCE SONG by JAMES BARTON ADAMS THE LAY OF THE OLD WOMAN CLOTHED IN GREY; A LEGEND OF DOVER by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM A STRANGER IN SEYTHOPOLIS by KATHARINE LEE BATES |